Machines for folding covers of ribbed insoles



H. A. IMHOF April 10, 1956 MACHINES FOR FOLDING COVERS RIBBED INSOLES Filed Sept 4. 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet l M 126 In ventwr Henna lZAIm hof April 10, 1956 H A. IMHOF 2,740,975

MACHINES FOR FOLDING COVERS OF RIBBED INSOLES Filed Sept. 4. 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 H. A. IMHOF April 10, 1956 MACHINES FOR FOLDING COVERS OF RIBBED INSOLES 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 4. 195a In w an. fim Hermazzfl. [mhof I 5/ [21' A1323! l ii" III United States Patent MACHINES FOR FOLDING COVERS 016 RIBBED INSOLES Herman A. Imhof, Hamilton, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application September 4, 1953, Serial No. 378,483

8 Claims. (Cl. 12-245) This invention relates to machines for folding covers of ribbed insoles and is particularly intended for use with insoles having a layer of resilient material so that they are called cushion insoles.

Cushion insoles are particularly attractive to the wearer because of the softness of the tread portion of the shoe and, as customarily constructed, they are provided with a precemented cover of soft leather material such as kid which extends over the tread surface of the cushion layer. This cushion layer frequently is made of foam rubber and the precemented cover is stuck to the foam rubber and brought around the periphery onto the margin of the firmer insole material which may be either of leather or some substitute material. The previously prepared sheet of cover material is snipped or notched at enough places around the periphery of the insole to permit it to be folded smoothly over onto the feather of the latter. When these insoles are welt insoles, it is particularly desirable to bring the cover material firmly into the bottom of the outer channel and then tightly against the outer face of the rib. One reason for this need is that fastenings used in lasting machines are applied near the base of the rib and unless the cover material fits snugly into the corner at this point, the attachment of the upper to the insole, during the lasting process, will not be satisfactory. Sometimes thread will be used as the fastening and at other times staples will be driven into the outer channel at the base of the rib. These staples are apt to tear through the cover material unless the latter is tightly folded into the outer channel.

An important object of the invention is to provide an improved folding machine which will draw the cover material tightly around the edge of the insole and snugly into the bottom of the channel.

A feature of the invention resides in the employment of a creaser foot as a guide entering the inner channel of the insole and supporting the rib for the application of the cover material. Coacting with this guide is a hammer shaped at its outer end to cooperate with the shape of the inside of the creaser foot thereby to carry the cover material firmly into the outer channel and to stick it against the outside of the rib.

Another feature of the invention enables the machine to be employed with insoles in which the width of the feather varies between the shank portion and the forepart of the insole. To this end, the lip turner or folding finger is pivotally mounted on its supporting lever and is spring urged toward the periphery of the insole which is located a variable distance from the creaser-foot guide.

Many folding machines are provided with a plow for use with French binding work to turn up the binding material as it approaches the folding instrumentalities. In such machines the plow is associated with a guide finger which serves to locate the material with respect to the plow. When, however, the machine is to be employed for insoles and the guiding is to be done by the creaser foot, then the edge of the insole will move out of a path of feeding movement which is parallel to the edge of the creaser foot, and to make the machine useful for such work, the plow has been yieldably mounted to swing about a vertical axis positioned in front of the plow and the rest of the folding mechanism. It will be understood that this plow will cooperate with the periphery of the insole to turn up the cover material ready for the action of the folding finger and will adapt itself to the varying paths of movement of the approaching portion of the work.

These and other features of the invention will best be understood from a consideration of the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawin gs in which Fig. l is a front elevation of the whole machine;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the work engaging instrumentalities;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the end of the worksupporting arm substantially on the line IIIIII of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an angular view showing an insole positioned in the machine;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken just above the face of the insole to show the relative location of the coacting tools which effect the folding operation; and

Fig. 6 is a vertical section on the line VIVI of Fig. 5 showing the hammer and the creaser foot engaging a piece of work.

This novel folding machine for applying covers to cushion welt insoles is of the type of the machine shown in Letters Patent of the United States No. 2,270,891, granted January 27, 1942 upon the application of C. A. Newhall to which reference may be had for an explanation of the driving and operating parts of the machine which are concealed within the casing thereof. This casing comprises a base 10 having an outwardly extending lower arm 12 provided with a work supporting tip 14. The base 10 has a removable cover 16 which supports an outwardly extending upper arm 18 having a head 20 which is employed for supporting a creaser-foot guide 22.

This guide is mounted upon a stem 24 received in a dovetail shaped guideway of a bracket 26 (Fig. 4) attached to a carrier 28 supported in the head 20 of the machine. At its lower end, the stem 24 is offset to the left (Fig. l) and has a foot or active guide element inclined downwardly to the right. Thus it fits the inner channel and has a rib-engaging side face which determines the line of feed. The stem and the guide are urged downwardly against the work by a spring 30 (Fig. l) and the limit of downward movement is adjustably determined by means of a stop screw 32. On the stem 24 is an arm 34 extending toward the front and coacting with the end of a lever 36 connected to a suitable treadle (not shown) by means of a treadle rod 38.

As noted above, this guide 22 coacts with an inner channel 40 of an insole I. This is a welt insole and accordingly has a rib 42, the material for which has been provided by channeling the margin of the insole to form a feather 44 and an outer channel 46. This rib may or may not be reinforced but frequently is provided with a canvas reinforcement 48 having an upturned margin 50 which is stuck to the rib. Insoles of this type are often provided with a layer 52 of resilient material which may be felt, foam rubber, or the like. Attached to the footsupporting surface of this cushion material is a cover 54 of thin, soft leather having an outwardly extending margin 56 which is provided with notches or slits 58 at suitable intervals to enable it to be folded smoothly and tightly over the edge 59 of the insole. It will be understood that this cover material is usually precemented with a pressure sensitive cement so that it will adhere to the feather 44 and the rib 42 when it is folded into the outer chanel 46 by the action of the machine.

In presenting such a piece of work to the machine, the

heei end of the insole is turned away from the operator so that the free end of the rib may be brought against the inner surface of the guide 22. Prior to this, the far end of the cover material is turned manually up around the periphery of the insole and successive portions of the cover material are raised by contact with an upstand ing plow-like member 60 which comprises a thin upstanding member secured to the end of an arm 62 which is pivotally supported upon the lower arm 12 of the machine for partial rotation about a pivot screw 64 which is threaded in a work supporting table 65. Coiled around this screw is a spring 66. This spring is coiled upon a sleeve 68 which at its upper end is secured to the arm 62. The arm 62 is provided with a laterally extending arm 70 (Fig. 1). One end of the spring 66 is attached to this arm while the other end 71 rests against the supporting arm 12 of the machine. It will be noted from Figs. 4 and that the plow 60 is slightly clipped and that an outer edge 72 thereof is curved back away from the work so as to minimize the friction against the margin of the cover material.

After passing the plow 60, the upturned cover is acted upon by a folding finger 74 which, in such machines, is frequently known as lip turner. In most such machines this finger is oscillated up and down and thus is reciprocated substantially vertically by a supporting lever 76 upon the end of which it is mounted. The lever 76 is pivoted at 78 on the tip 14 of the lower arm and an interposed eccentric may be adjusted by means of a finger piece 80 shown in Fig. 1. Oscillations of a limited extent are imparted to this lever by a pin 82 (Fig. 3) at the end of a shaft 84, said pin entering a cylindrical block 83 journalled in the lever 76 in a manner common to such machines. The folding finger 74 in this machine, however, is pivotally attached at 86 to the lever 76 and its upper end is urged yieldably toward the periphery 59 (Fig. 6) of the insole by a spring 88 (Fig. 2) extending between the lower end 90 of the finger and a depending lug 92 on the lever. The finger is provided with a lateral extension 94 hearing against the upper surface of the lever to determine the normal or stop position of the finger 74. The finger 74 may, however, yield against the tension of the spring 88 away from the rib of the insole as may be required by a varying width of the feather 44 (Fig. 5) of the insole which frequently is wider at the shank portion than at the forepart. This insures a tight wipe of the cover despite any adverse effect caused by the yield or friction of the cushioning material 52.

This intermittent motion of the folding finger 74 acts upon successive portions of the insole cover margin 56 as the work is carried through the machine by a feeding mechanism comprising a hammer 96 which coacts with an anvil 98 to grip the work and then is swung away from the operator and toward the observer in Fig. 2 to feed the work. After this the hammer and anvil are separated and carried back to their starting position. During the return movement of the hammer and anvil, the work is held stationary by the upward pressure of a work gripper 99 (Fig. 3) which underlies the work close to a spacefilling extension 101 on the anvil. The gripper 99, carried on a shaft 103 (Fig. 5), is depressed intermittently by a mechanism shown and described in the patent mentioned above.

In this feeding mechanism, the hammer is supported on the upper end of an arm 100 (Figs. 2 and 3) which forms one side of a two-arm lever having a cross web 102. The arm 100 and its parallel arm 104 are pivoted on a sleeve 106 extending through an arm 108 which carries the anvil 98. The lower end 109 of the latter arm is formed to surround a hollow shaft 110 and is gripped thereto by means of a pinch screw 112. Below the web 102 the lever, which includes the hammer-carrying arm 100, has two depending portions 114 which straddle a block 116 and are pivotally attached thereto by a pivot pin 118. This block slides upon a reciprocatory rod 120,

being held against a stop 122 threaded thereon by means of a spring 124 which is compressed between the block 116 and a washer 126 at the outer end of the rod. By means of a mechanism contained within the base 10 of the machine and driven from a drive shaft 130 (Fig. 1) therein, the hollow shaft and the reciprocable rod are operated to provide a four-motion feed for the work by alternately gripping and releasing it as the feed lever 108, which carries the anvil 98, is swung from front to back.

It will be noticed that an end face 132 of the hammer 96 is shaped to parallel an inner side face 134 (Fig. 2) of the guide 22, thus insuring that the cover material will be pushed well into the corner of the outer channel 46 and the margin of the cover material brought into firm sticking engagement with the outer face of the rib 42 as the latter is supported by the guide 22 (Fig. 6).

In the operation of the machine the operator, having turned in the very end portion of the cover material manually, will present the end of the rib to the machine in the position shown in Fig. 4. This insertion of the work, being aided by momentary depression of the treadle rod 38 to lift the guide 22, brings the upturned portion of the cover margin 56 against the face of the plow 60 to be turned up thereby as it approaches the folding finger 74 which will press the cover firmly against the periphery of the insole. This finger, being yieldably mounted upon its lever 76, will cooperate with varying widths of feather 44 and a consequent variation in the distance between the inner face of the guide 22 and the periphery of the insole. After the cover has been wiped up snugly to the periphery, the end face 132 of the hammer 96 will force it into the outer channel 46 bringing it snugly to the base of the rib 42 and attaching it to the outer surface thereof. The intermittent feeding action of the hammer 96 and the anvil 98 will cause the work to be carried rapidly forward so that it will be progressively subjected to the action of the plow 60 and of the folding finger or lip turner 74.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a folding machine, a work supporting table, means for feeding a piece of work along a path leading from front to back of the machine, a support having a stop, means for oscillating said support, a folding finger pivotally mounted upon said support, and resilient means for holding said finger against said stop on said support whereby said finger is urged against the periphery of a piece of work.

2. In a machine for folding insole covers, a work supporting table, a guide supported above the table positioned to enter the inside channel of a ribbed insole having a varying width of feather, an oscillatory folding finger for turning the cover over the edge of the insole and pressing it thereagainst, said finger being mounted to yield away from the guide, and means for feeding the insole past the guide.

3. In a machine for folding insole covers, a work supporting table, a guide supported above the table positioned to enter the inside channel of a ribbed insole having a varying width of feather, a reciprocatory folding finger for turning the cover over the edge of the insole and pressing it thereagainst, said finger being mounted to yield away from the guide, fold-completing means operative to press the cover against the feather, and step-by-step means including said fold-completing means for feeding the insole past the guide.

4. In a machine for folding insole covers into the outer channel of a ribbed insole comprising a guide for the inside channel serving also to support the rib, a plow for turning up the projecting margin of the cover, a folding finger mounted for movement heightwise and mounted to yield laterally to press the cover against the periphery of the insole, and means for completing the fold and feeding the insole.

5. In a machine for folding insole covers, a Work supporting table, a guide for the inner channel of a ribbed insole, a plow for turning up the outstanding margin of the cover, said plow being yieldable laterally about an upright axis positioned ahead of the plow, a reciprocatory folding finger for pressing the margin of the cover against the periphery of the insole, and a hammer and anvil feed for completing the folding of the cover and pressing it into the outer channel.

6. In a machine for folding insole covers of ribbed insoles, a creaser foot entering the inner channel of thc insole and supporting the rib thereof, means for folding the cover up around the periphery of the insole, a hammer and anvil feed for the insole, said hammer being pivoted for movement against the covered feather of the insole into a position where its end face is substantially parallel to the inner face of the creaser foot whereby the cover will be pressed into the outer channel and wiped against the outside of the rib.

7. In a machine for folding covers on ribbed insoles, a creaser foot positioned to enter the inner channel of the insole to determine the direction of feeding movement, means for feeding the covered insole past said creaser foot, a lever pivoted upon an axis substantially parallel to the direction of feeding movement, a folding finger pivoted upon the end of said lever, means for oscillating the lever to carry the finger up and down, and a spring between said finger and said lever operative to hold the finger against the periphery of the insole irrespective of the width of the feather thereof.

8. In a machine for foldnig covers on ribbed insoles, a creaser foot positioned to enter the inner channel of the insole to determine the direction of feeding movement, means for feeding the covered insole past said creaser foot, a lever pivoted upon said machine on an axis substantially parallel to the direction of feeding movement, a folding finger pivoted upon the end of said lever, means for oscillating the lever to carry the finger up and down, means for limiting the pivotal movement of the finger with respect to the lever, and a spring interposed between the lever and the finger tending to hold the finger at its limit of pivotal movement but permitting it to yield away from the guide to accommodate varying Widths of the feather of an insole.

FOREIGN PATENTS France Mar. 14, 1927 

